November 29, 1997

Shoppers from all over country pile into stores on first official day of holiday season--known to retailers as Black Friday, because they hope it will push their bottom lines into black; while retailers tend to monitor activity obsessively over Thanksgiving weekend, kickoff to crucial holiday buying period has lessened in importance in recent years as more and more shoppers choose to buy closer to Christmas; Thanksgiving weekend can also be deceiving; last year, season started with bang and ended on mediocre note; graph; photo (M)

Photo of Buck Leonard, star of Negro League dead at age 90

Sense of crisis looming over Japan's vast financial system subsides, although investors, analysts and Government officials remain edgy; Yasuda Trust and Banking Co issues statement denouncing market rumors that have painted it as next of Japan's big banks headed for disaster; it asks Securities Exchange and Surveillance Commission to look into whether rumors have been intentionally spread to manipulate its stock; several banks have to pay high premiums to borrow money used to finance day-to-day operations, after failure of several banks (M)

Miami's image as center of tourism, trade and culture wrapped in international glitz begins to give way to one marked by high taxes, fiscal mismanagement and government corruption, and its troubles are not helping surrounding Dade County, which has renamed itself Miami-Dade in hopes of hitching its forture to the city's star; some studies suggest that multinational companies interested in South Florida are switching their focus to areas like Broward County, partly because of concerns about crime and corruption; photos (M)

American professionals are organizing religion classes at the workplace, from Bible study lunches at Northrop Grumman to noon Torah classes at Microsoft and Islamic study groups at Intel; one participants argues that if such classes were scheduled for the evening, no one would show up; professionals find that classes fill a spiritual void created by years of secular, career-driven focus; not all employers are comfortable with classes, especially governmental agencies anxious to keep church and state separate; photos (M)